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JEARRARD'S HERBAL


27th June 2021

Disa Colette Cywes 'Blush' .
It never rains but it pours.
It has been a complicated week. The garden has cowered in the cold of the last week of June. Last night the rain started to fall and it has become heavier by degrees. I have been slowly adding layers of clothing as I type this. After sitting for a few minutes I am already thinking that I could do with a heavier jumper.
The Disa have been the stars of the week, delivering somer shocking colour to the greenhouse. The time has come to sort through the seedlings and decide which stay and which have to go. I am trying to clear some space on the bench so that I can space the potential candidates out and see them a bit better, the choice is never easy. I start with a list of desirable characters but the plants I select on objective grounds are never the same ones that I want to keep. Somehow I have to balance objectivity with instinct. In the end I will choose the ones I was always going to keep anyway. Some of them will be supported by sound reasoning, most will be supported by robust excuses and assertive, perplexed expressions.
I try to use D. Colette Cywes'Blush' as a bench-mark in the assessment. It is a parent in many of my crosses and the seedlings are varied and colourful.
Much like the swearing.


27th June 2021

Dianell tasmanica 'Logan Form' .
The garden has fallen into a lull. Clematis montana has dropped enough tepals to look like a balding man. I hit a stage in my 40's when the top of my head was still fully covered with hair, but it was so thin that it hardly registered. I cut it all off. It doesn't improve the look but it removes the risk of delusion. The Clematis would benefit from a similar intervention, it is technically still blooming but the last few flowers detract from the garden. Unfortunately it has spread itself over a very large Acer, the job is beyond me. Strong winds or a good thunderstorm would solve the problem.
Beneath it the pale flowers of Dianella tasmanica have appeared in sufficient abundance to be visible. It is difficult to see how the combination of blue petals and yellow anthers could be so subtle but it fades into the general background. I grow 'Logan Form' from the late Michael Wickenden, the berries that will appear in autumn are deep blue in colour with an astonishing intensity. Most of my delight in the abundant flowers derives from the promise of fruit.


27th June 2021

Iris 'Roy Davidson' .
I got a lot done in the garden this spring. A fortuitous combination of good weather and free time allowed me to get on with some big projects. The inevitable consequence is that smaller issues were overlooked. I have a number of Iris of various sorts that enjoy moist locations. I have demonstrated that they do not prosper in the herbaceous border, those that were rescued in time were potted and now grow in a large tray of water. It is a temporary solution, the first flowers of Iris 'Roy Davidson' appearing in the middle of the tangle demonstrated that it wasn't really a solution and five years can't really be called temporary. Something will have to be done.
'Roy Davidson' is a seedling raised by Ben Hager in the USA from open pollinated seed of 'Holden Clough' (who's parentage has long been a matter of dispute). They are both very vigorous and strongly resemble I. pseudacorus however they have very low fertility so it is assumed that they are hybrids.
It can't stay in the current tray for much longer, 'Roy Davidson' has started to swamp other things. I am at the stage of hoping a perfect answer will arrive by itself. Perhaps as things die back in autumn I will try something more practical.



27th June 2021

Paeonia lactiflora .
Problems in the garden do tend to resolve themselves. When I set out to build the Agave house I had a large flat terrace cut into the hillside. I didn't really have a plan for it but I have almost no flat ground on the site, it seemed like a good idea. A couple of years ago I started calling it the New Herbaceous Border. The plan was to restrict maintenance to a couple of months in winter when the entire bed could be stripped of foliage and then leave it alone through the summer. I have been planting things that will be entirely leafless from November to March, it had been an interesting challenge. I had also decided not to worry, to put plants in as I felt like it and not bother with labels and fuss. I have a labelling fixation, it has not been easy.
Fortunately the horticulture industry has come to my rescue. This peony was supposed to be 'Bowl of Beauty' and it isn't. It is a cultivar of P. lactiflora but I have no idea which one. I threw away the label. This first flower is a triumph for not worrying. There are a few other peonies in the border and I think I might add a few more, nothing expensive, nothing labelled. It is a border dedicated to unexpected surprise and I have learned a lot from it. I have learned that willowherb grows phenominally quickly, that deer eat the flower heads from ornamental onions, and that peonies can rise above their circumstances.
When the rain stops I am going to take some more dahlia cuttings - they might work here.